Seed of Terror
by Yuzuru's-Angel
Summary: A girl bears the seed of Diablo, Lord of Terror. The child is destined to destroy Sanctuary, and the only hope is to seal it within a Soul Stone when it is weak from birth. Sadly, the only known Soul Stone lies in the hands of a traveling merchant. A group of powerful warriors must escort her to the Dry Steppes in search of the Soul Stone to prevent catastrophe... Please R&R!


**Diablo 3**

**Seed of Terror**

_**Hello hello! Here's a fanfic that I thought of while playing some D3. Main characters will be based off of some of my characters of course, maybe gender-bended, but mainly the same.**_

_**Summary: A woman bears the seed of Diablo, who is destined to destroy Sanctuary. The only way to stop this, is to seal the child within a Soul Stone upon its birth. Sadly, the last known Soul Stone in existence lies in the hands of a traveler who has made his way into the Dry Steppes. With a group of powerful warriors, they search for the traveler, while taking on the forces of Hell itself...**_

_**Please Read, REVIEW, and Enjoy! It might be a long story, but we'll just have to see~**_

_**One last note: There will be third-person perspectives that follow different characters in each chapter(although there might be two or three where it's the same, of course). Sometimes, there will be a first-person journal entry that will come in as well, like you'll see!**_

**Chapter One – Seed of Terror**

_What is it that brought me here to this forsaken town of Tristram? Perhaps it was the fearful word that had spread across the land, or the stench of scorching lands and death..._

_Either way, here I am, a light pack of supplies, gazing down from my camp upon the crumbled town below. What I find there is a mystery...But at least I know one promising fact:_

_I will get to shed blood...lots of it._

* * *

The door opened to the Slaughtered Calf Inn, and a mysterious, hooded figure stepped inside, the floors creaking as he entered.

Bron, the Barkeep, ceased his hand from cleaning the mug in front of him. He gazed at the person whom had just entered with slight interest.

"We're closed," he said simply, slowly returning to wiping the inside of the stone mug.

The person didn't seem to listen, as they continued forth towards the bar slowly, looking around the room at the old, bloodied rags and shattered mugs that lay strewn around the floor. Bron, getting suspicious, reached beneath the counter for his sword...

"No need for that," the hooded figure said in a deep, yet non-threatening voice. He pushed his cloak back a bit, revealing the two hand crossbows that lay at his hips, and Bron hesitantly brought his hand back from the hilt of his blade.

"What do you want? We already have enough trouble around here as it is," Bron demanded, motioning towards the messiness of the inn.

The man reached up and pulled his hood off, revealing his paled-skin and long, black hair that blended in with the night sky that could be seen from the nearby window. "I am a Demon Hunter, and I have heard that something troubling has been happening here," he told Bron, who looked surprised.

"A...Demon Hunter you say?" Bron put a hand on his chin and looked the man up for a moment. He then lowered his hand and said, "Well, I guess you look the type..."

The man grinned slightly, but Bron took a harsher tone as he said, "...and so did the others who turned out to be just petty cut-throats and thieves!"

In that instance, Bron reached for his sword and swung out at the man, who jumped back and fumbled a bit over one of the tables behind him. Taking advantage of the moment, Bron hurled himself over the bar and ran at the man, jabbing at him with his sword.

The man was quick however, and, with one fluid motion, he stood and drew his right hand crossbow which parried the sword off its track. He then drew his second hand crossbow and pointed it right into the face of Bron, who no longer looked like the hardened man he was before, but now seemed hopeless and fearful.

"My name is Kail, and I can assure you, I am not a lowly scoundrel like you may think," he said to Bron, taking a couple of steps back and lowering his hand crossbow.

Bron looked at him for a few moments, before shaking his head and lowering his sword. "Well, then let your actions speak for you. Come with me; I will show you what evil plagues us."

* * *

Bron left the Inn, leading Kail down the crumbled road that passed through the middle of the town.

"If you look around, you can see that this is a place for doomed souls," Bron said. Kail looked around at the few inhabitants of the town, all of which, including the young ones, looked ghostly, and void of life. If they hadn't been moving ever so slowly, he may have thought them to be dead.

"What darkness could bring a place like this to its knees?" A deathly woman could be seen crawling through the dirt at the side of the road, begging for someone to help her. A strange, dark root seemed to be growing on her face and neck.

"It is not only what evil lies here now, but what has happened in the past," Bron explained, stopping for a moment to point towards a ruined building up on a hill in the distance, "That monastary is where the Archangel Tyrael descended, and where the cultists of the witch Magda followed him and brought pain and suffering in this town."

Kail looked at the monastary with interest. He had heard of one of his old companions heading towards Tristram many years ago, in search of a 'falling star', as he had described it.

"Over here lies what you seek," Bron said, and Kail realized that he was walking again. They stopped in front of another small building, which, like all of the others, was tainted and crumbling. "I dare not enter, less I be cursed. You may enter though, if you dare."

Kail dipped his head in thanks to the barkeep. "I respect your decision. A wise man never deals with things he isn't used to," he told him.

Bron seemed to ignore that as he turned and headed back to his Inn. Kail shrugged it off and opened the door to the building, which was so creaky and weak that it seemed like it would break at any moment...

There, on the opposite side of the room, was a woman, chained and shackled to the wall behind her. Instinctively, Kail quickly ran over to her, but, as he got closer, he realized that something was wrong...

A black marking lay on her left cheek and neck, seeming to extend even farther down her body, as they were even visible on her hands. _Has she fell victim to the plague?_ Kail became cautious as he got closer...

When he was a mere few feet away, he realized that the girl in front of him...was beautiful. He reached towards her hesitantly and brushed hair out of her face. Upon doing that, she opened her eyes and slowly looked up at him.

The girl's eyes were a golden-amber, and her hair was as brown as the oak trees that Kail had not seen in a long time of being in forsaken places.

As he placed a hand hesitantly upon the marked cheek, he noted that her skin was fair and soft. Running a finger along the marking, he couldn't feel anything of it. It was nothing like he had ever seen before.

"I would like you to step back," came a voice from behind, intruding upon Kail's thoughts. He turned and saw that a bald man suited in chain-mail armor stood in front of the door, pointing his crossbow at Kail. "If you know what's best for you."

"What is wrong with this girl," Kail asked, "She just bears an odd marking. Is that enough to bind her in chains and blame her as the one responsible for this town's decay?"

The armored man scowled. "You know nothing, stranger. She is a menace. If I didn't orders not to, I would slay her right here, right now," he said to Kail. "Now, for the last time, back away!"

Kail glared at the man, who seemed confident in himself, and was unwavering. "I don't like that tone of voice," Kail said...

Kail leapt forward in a flurry of shadows. The man, surprised, went to fire his crossbow, but Kail pushed it to the side, making it miss completely. Then, he gave the man a clean punch, sending him to the ground.

By the time the man recovered and was ready to get up, Kail had placed a foot on his chest to stop him, and was pointing one of his hand crossbows down at him.

"I'm going to unchain this girl, then you can give me some answers," Kail told him. He took his foot off of the man's chest, then kicked him in the side, making him gasp and roll over.

As Kail placed his hand crossbow at his hip and made his way back over to the girl, he noticed that she seemed...frightened of him.

"You have nothing to fear," he assured her as he came close, "What is your name?"

The girl simply stared at him for a moment. Seeing that she probably wouldn't give him an answer, he pulled out a lock-pick from the bag at his side, and began to work on her left hand chain. Once released, he did the other, then the ones on her feet.

When she was released, the girl attempted to stand, but collapsed. Luckily, Kail caught her, and told her, "Take it easy. I'm guessing they've had you up there for a while."

Kail slowly stood and helped the girl up. After a few moments, she seemed to regain her balance, so he let her go. She turned towards him, and opened her words, about to speak...

But stopped when a clicking sound could be heard from behind. Kail, knowing all too well what it was, quickly spun around and reached for his hand crossbow. However, the man had already taken aim, and fired at him.

Using his free hand, Kail reached forward and caught the arrow before it hit him. It was not a perfect catch, as the arrowhead ripped through part of his hand, but it worked. He then took out his hand crossbow and fired a bolt right into the man's throat. He let out a gargling-gasp and dropped his crossbow, grasping his throat for a moment before falling and ceasing to move.

The girl, still dazed by what was happening, turned to look at the man, but Kail turned her head back towards him. "You...might not want to see that," he said, placing the hand crossbow back by his side.

"Guards!" A voice came from the doorway, where a man stood, looking at the scene in horror. In mere seconds, several guards rushed into the room, and pointed their crossbows at Kail and the girl.

"Stay close to me," Kail whispered to the girl, pulling his hand crossbow back out defensively and holding onto the girl with his other arm.

"Stop," came a commanding voice, and an elder, battle-worn man entered, sword in hand. His armor was shining steel, and much better quality than that of the others, which led Kail to realize that he must be the leader of them. "I am Rumford, Captain of the militia. I order you to release that girl this instant!"

Kail glanced at all of the soldiers, then down at his injured hand. Realizing he stood no chance and needed to think of a solution, he stalled the situation by asking, "Why is this girl so important?"

_He doesn't know? _Rumford shook his head and pointed his sword at the girl.

"She bears the seed of Diablo, Lord of Terror!"

**To be continued...**

**Next Chapter - Protector**


End file.
